-- THE ARCHIVE --

UNITED STATES
Reformatory CP - March 2010

Panama City News Herald, Florida, 11 March 2010

Hess: No criminal case at reform school

FDLE issues final report on 15-month inquiry into alleged abuse

By Andrew Gant
News Herald Writer

The FDLE included this photo in its 17-page summary report
after an investigation into alleged abuse at the Arthur G. Dozier
School for Boys. Pictured is a newspaper photo of "O.J.
Keller in his role of reformer in 1974," according to a
caption. He is holding a "strap, paddle once used in youth
corrections."

MARIANNA -- The state announced Thursday its long
investigation into years of alleged abuse at the Arthur G. Dozier
School for Boys won't result in any criminal charges.

"In a nutshell, citizens are protected from being
prosecuted for crimes that occurred so long ago that preparing a
defense would be difficult or impossible," State Attorney
Glenn Hess wrote to the FDLE in response to the state's
investigation. "The claims presented here provide an
example."

Hundreds of men who were students at the reform school (once
known as the Florida School for Boys) have long alleged they were
beaten there, mainly in the 1950s and 1960s, beyond the realm of
corporal punishment. Some alleged sexual abuse; some said they
witnessed deaths.

In its report, the FDLE cited no evidence of any such crimes.

Many of the accusers, nicknamed "the White House
Boys" for the 11-room white building where they claim they
were beaten with a metal-reinforced leather strap, maintain their
accusations.

"The FDLE report is just bogus, it's just fraud,"
68-year-old Dick Colon, who spent three years at the Marianna
school, said Thursday. "And they're going to continue doing
that to try to save their asses."

In late January, the FDLE delivered an investigative summary
to Hess, who responded this week.

Hess wrote the abuse charges are "extremely generic"
and "time has blunted even the accuser's memory."

"Due process," he continued, "demands that the
accused be informed of the charge he is to answer with
specificity."

Besides that, Hess wrote, offenses not punishable by death
must be prosecuted within four years of the offense (and in 1969,
around the time of the alleged abuse, the statute of limitations
was two years and "much more restrictive.")

Click to enlarge

The FDLE's 17-page summary report of its investigation
included interviews with 102 former students, their family
members and former staff (those who still are alive). The agency
also sent a forensic analyst to examine the White House itself
and found no evidence of blood on the walls.

Some ex-staff members confirmed there were lashings on campus.

Some of the former wards had "positive views of the
school and its discipline," according to the FDLE. The
report quotes former students as saying "I certainly needed
the discipline," "It was common sense to behave"
and "No student was sent to the White House without specific
cause."

One former student told investigators Troy Tidwell (a former
warden named as a defendant in the White House Boys' class-action
lawsuit against the state) "did for me what my parents never
did."

Tidwell's attorneys declined an FDLE interview with him, but
in a video of his statement for the civil proceedings, he denied
any abuse. A judge later tossed the lawsuit.

Still, the White House Boys are pursuing a claims bill in the
Florida Legislature that would provide compensation for alleged
victims.

A press release from "The Official White House Boys
Organization" this week said the group has established a
humanitarian award for people who protect children from abuse.
The first recipient will be state Rep. Gus Barreiro, who was
fired from the Department of Juvenile Justice in January 2009 but
advocated for the White House Boys in his time there.